Hi there!
During the last few months, many things in my life had arrived at a stand-still. Regardless of working hard and putting in extra effort, my weight, blog, job, Instagram, relationships, income, and mental health remained unmoving. I felt like, even though I was doing everything "right", I wasn't making the progress or seeing the results I wanted. And reaching my goals was the only thing I seemed to want to focus on because I felt so frustrated that I hadn't arrived to my desired place in life just yet.
When we aren't making progress in our life or reaching our desired goals, it can really make us feel defeated. However, I've come to learn that we can focus on the small ways in which we've improved or gotten closer to what we want, and it's about the journey, not always the destination. And sometimes there are other things at fault, not just us and whatever we're doing wrong.
Rather than potentially give up on our journeys, or fall into a spiral of bad self-talk and pity, we can remind ourselves that sometimes less is more and that maybe there's a reason beyond the stagnant path.
We can work to adjust our focus, dig deep, and potentially change our direction by consistently reminding ourselves of the following ideas.
4 things we can remind ourselves when we're not seeing the results we want
1. Patience is key
While hard work is important, so is having patience. On my weight loss journey, I haven't seen any drastic changes in my weight in months, but I am retaining patience, as well as a good attitude, trusting that the results will come.
Most often, when we expect things to happen right away, they don't--growth is gradual and takes time. Maybe Youtubers I watch that I once compared myself to, either had one video that randomly exploded, or they've been YouTubing for several years, growing steadily without giving up.
Keep on moving toward your goals, and be sure to take deep breaths along the way. Remind yourself that what you desire will come, in time.
Check out my post 5 ways to be self-motivated and get things done for advice on continuing forward when times get difficult.
2. Perhaps your goals are too big/need adjusting
Maybe you are seeing results, but they're smaller than you'd like. This is still okay because every minor growth is great in its own way. Pay some attention to the little stepping-stones that are helping pave your way to success.
I'm a big believer in manifestation and setting mighty goals for ourselves. "Dream big", as the motivational speakers say. However, to expect ourselves to go from 1 to 1000 within a month just isn't always practical. Remember, once again, to have patience, continuing to visualize these goals but not feeling low when you haven't yet gotten there.
Also, you may have to adjust your goals as needed. When I began my weight loss journey, my goal was to lose 40 pounds. While that's still my goal, I adjusted my main goal of getting up and moving my body in some way, every day. This way, I'm still working toward my goal weight, but it's not just about the number anymore--it's about the healthy, daily activity.
3. You may not be aligned with these goals
It could be true that what you're reaching for isn't what you need. Maybe you'd like a relationship, but you're not at a point in your life when you really need one. Maybe you want to write a book, but you don't have the time or creative energy to sit down and do it just yet, and that's okay.
I've fallen guilty of tackling projects because others are doing them and because I feel like I should be doing, such as writing another book (which I am now that I'm aligned with it), reading certain books, and designing my platforms to look a certain way. Sometimes, we just aren't truly connected to these goals.
Take time to ask yourself, "Why?" Why are you wanting these results? Why are you heading down this path? Why do you want to look this way? When you ask yourself "Why?" you may find some hidden motivation. When I wasn't seeing results during my weight loss journey, I asked myself why I felt the need to look a certain way and continue and found that it was because exercise makes my body feel good and healthy, and my mental health has been soaring due to exercise. I found more internal motivation just by asking myself this question, which helped me continue on happily.
You may also find that you need to change your goals or adjust them as needed.
4. Remember to stay consistent
If you aren't seeing results, it could be that you aren't being consistent with your routine or actions. The best way to be consistent is to set habits and potentially even time-block to schedule these habits into our daily routine. Exercising every day, uploading a blog post every week, and writing for two hours twice a week are some good examples of habits that can be set in order to stay consistent toward our goals.
The hard truth about working toward goals or reaching for results is that we need to consistently work toward them and self-motivate ourselves to get it done. Sometimes, it is easy to blame everything else, like a lack of time, not enough followers, or no creativity, and at some points, these things can be at fault. But, I've come to find that most of the hard work and motivation comes from within, and it's up to us to make that time, reach out to those new followers, and cultivate the creativity to keep going.
Dive in, and continue working hard. You can do it!
I hope this post has brought you a bit of reassurance regarding your goals or making seeing the results you desire. It can difficult when we're not seeing progress or gaining much from our hard work, but if we look closer, we can probably notice several small but important progressions that we may have overlooked.
Keep your head up, and never give up (unless, of course, your goals don't align with you anymore, haha)!
Probably writing,
Brittney